Glasgow residents in flats at ‘risk of fire spread’ to be moved

Tenants living in high-rise flats which are at “risk of fire spread” due to “combustible” cladding are set to be moved into new homes in Laurieston.
The residents are going to be moved to Laurieston.The residents are going to be moved to Laurieston.
The residents are going to be moved to Laurieston.

Hundreds of residents in flats at 305 and 341 Caledonia Road in the Gorbals are being moved out so the not “entirely safe” buildings can be knocked down.

Some of the tenants are expected to be housed in new properties in Laurieston, which were initially meant for private sale.

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Glasgow councillors will be asked to approve changing a development agreement, to allow 52 homes to be sold in bulk to New Gorbals Housing Association, when they meet on Thursday

A council report states: “In September 2019, New Gorbals Housing Association (NGHA) informed the council that 276 flats in the two high-rise blocks at 305 and 341 Caledonia Road, Gorbals, did not provide entirely safe accommodation.

“This is because of the risk of fire spread between dwellings attributable to the cladding being combustible.”

Balconies on the two blocks, which extend up the front of the building, are made from timber and there is no adequate firebreak. It is expected to have cost at least £14million to make the properties safe.

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The decision to demolish the flats was made following consultation with tenants, and measures to ensure their safety, including heat detectors, smoke detectors and monthly meetings with the fire service, are in place.

Under the altered agreement, homes developed by Urban Union, as part of the Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area, will be able to be sold to NGHA.

They had been intended for private sale and the development agreement, between the council and Urban Union, currently “does not permit the sale of a block of units, on an off market basis, to a single purchaser”.

Fraser Stewart, director at New Gorbals Housing Association, said tenants from the two high-rise blocks are being re-housed in various locations, including the Laurieston development, and the housing association is “hugely grateful” to Urban Union for a “positive response”.

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He added: “We are trying to meet people’s needs and aspirations as far as we can.”

Significant progress in the re-housing process is expected by the middle of next year and demolition of the flats is currently anticipated to take place during 2023.

The council report states as the 52 units are “being conveyed to NGHA in phases, it is proposed to do this by entering into a separate side letter for each phase”.

Homes would be sold at market value, which will be “assessed as per the terms of the development agreement and comparable to previous sales of similar house types within the development”.

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Back in 2012, the council, as the landowner, entered into the development agreement with Urban Union, part of the Robertson Group, to provide homes on a 13 hectare site, made up of mainly derelict and vacant land, in Laurieston.

Under the first phase, more than 200 homes for social rent were built for NGHA and the Norfolk Court high-rises were knocked down.

Now, NGHA is set to take on 52 homes from phase two, which includes 173 homes in a mix of four to six-storey blocks of flats and three-storey town houses.

Urban Union would have the “right to require the council to convey any one or more of the units within the phase to which the side letter relates to NGHA once they have been certified as complete”.

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Concerns over the risk posed by cladding were pushed to the fore by the Grenfell Tower blaze in 2017, which left 72 people dead and sparked measures across the UK to review the safety of building materials.

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